Elizabeth Davies: Borrowing just prolongs the inevitable

Imagine what you could do with 43 percent more money. Weekly spa treatments. A new Porsche. Professional landscaping.

Elizabeth Davies

Imagine what you could do with 43 percent more money.

Weekly spa treatments. A new Porsche. Professional landscaping.

Or perhaps you’re the philanthropic type: monthly donations to the charity of your choice. Or maybe you’ll save up for one big lump sum so the hospital can name a wing after you.

There’s no doubt, few of us would say no to a 43 percent raise. Until we hear the caveats: It’s borrowed money. We’ll have to pay it back at high interest rates and will likely spend the rest of our days swimming in a pool of debt.

So the spa treatments don’t seem quite as important any more. We figure out how to mow our own yard. Our favorite charity will have to work with a smaller budget.

For most of us, borrowing such a huge percentage of our annual income is foolishness. And yet, we watch and wait while our country’s lawmakers name-call in an argument over whether they should do exactly the same.

Rick Newman of U.S. News & World Report summed it up pretty well: “The U.S. government is like the world’s biggest, most indebted consumer, borrowing from lenders all over the world to finance about 43 percent of its spending this year.”

Now I’m not an economist, but even I realize that borrowing for the U.S. government is a tad different from me sending in a credit card application. And I understand that the implications of my loan – or lack thereof – are far less significant than the government’s.

Still, at a time when our national debt levels are at all-time highs, continued borrowing at this rate is setting us up for disaster. All world powers throughout history have fallen — and we’re helping ourselves along to that same fate every time we spend money we don’t have.

When I was a kid, I frequently heard my mom lament that old cliché, “Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.” For the federal government, it might not grow in trees but it does get printed in a federal mint. Short-term solution to a long-term problem, though: The dollar will be worth less and less the more we count on that as our answer.

There are people with far more education than I debating both sides of this issue. They probably even sailed through high school algebra without a tutor. They understand the complexities involved, and no doubt would say I’m oversimplifying the issue.

And so, borrowing more money isn’t going to do anything but prolong the inevitable — we are indebted to the global market, after all. And continuing to borrow without a responsible fiscal plan in place simply sets us up for a greater debt load in the years to come.

My kids love to get junk toys and trinkets from those little quarter machines at the grocery store. I think they relish more in the thrill of putting the quarter in than they do in playing with the actual toy.

For them, I keep a Ziploc bag filled with change from their piggy banks inside my purse. But when the bag is empty? Sorry, Charlie. No toy today. Save up, spend wisely and maybe next time you’ll have a quarter to spare.

We need to expect the same simplicity from the federal government, regardless of the complexity of its situation.

Save up. Spend wisely. And stop asking someone else to bail you out of your mess.